Omachuck: Blog

Upon reading some of the comments on Benjin's stories, I responded, then decided to summarize here.

You folks have some good and interesting thoughts. Here are some of mine:

Early on, one of my editors and I set out to proofread Benjin's stories. As you said, there are both typos and 'expressions' that come from his native German. We got through one and half of another, and I decided it wouldn't work without Benjin participating. A BIG reason was the temptation to edit as well as proof, and the 'flavor' changed. Another was that there would be two versions of the same story on different sites. I didn't even keep the two stories in my own files.

On the other items, you have to remember that these are stories that were written very early in the Cycle. Other authors, including me, have expanded on such ideas. One reason we are so protective of 'canon' is to let us poke at ideas without treading on each other. I think it works pretty well. Above all, I wanted to 'port Benjin's stories to show the origin of some of the basic ideas/tenants of the Cycle. Benjin laid a LOT of the foundation.

If we could get permission, I'd be more than happy to 'port other stories from ASSTR, but we do need to consider copyrights.

Omachuck

I'm back in the USA, and as promised, 'porting the remainder of Benjin's stories from ASSTR.

Nova Guardian is a very short, non-canon story set in the Swarm Cycle's universe. I'm pretty sure it was Benjin's 1st story in the cycle and intentionally violates the 'rules' of the universe. It contains no sex whatsoever.

Look for chapter one sometime Friday, depending where you live.

I'll post The Gangriel Incident the following weekend. Gangriel is the story about an almost collapsing colony. It is a disturbing story that involves rape, torture, and cannibalism. One reader has urged me not to 'port it, but as it does contain elements referred to in other stories, it really needs to be here. I will likely turn off voting but not comments. Be warned!

We are nearing the end of Benjin's multi-chapter Swarm Cycle stories. Wanda's Voyage begins the morning of May 17th.

You remember Wanda, the avatar? Three chapters of fun.

I'm leaving the country for three weeks, so I've queued two one-chapter shorties for next weekend's enjoyment. Look for Holly's Happy Day and Fuck Toys.

When I return, I'll upload the last remaining (two) stories. Why wait, you ask? One is a non-canon story and the other is a very dark, dark story that I feel is best left until last. Trust me on this...

The Swarm Authors' discussion group heard from Benjin a few days ago. He renewed his permission to upload his old stories, but expressed no intention to write more. Too bad!

Plato Base is a 3 chapter story. I thought it appropriate to queue it up to Start the morning of Friday the 13th. One chapter each day.

Feedback has been a little sparse...

I queued the first chapter of this two-chapter story. Look for it in the morning of May 11th.

Here is a taste - the opening paragraph:

L'ielit thought of herself as a front commander. The front line was Earth. The enemies were time and stupidity. With a growing number of people, stupidity grows, that's a fact. L'ielit had to fill the Melbourne, one of the biggest transport ships of the Confederacy, with a quarter million people so the level of stupidity would be immense. L'ielit's strategy was to split the crowd into smaller groups. Today's goal was St. Petersburg, Florida. The plan was to extract the whole town.

I'm glad you folks are enjoying Benjin's stories as much as I do.